A conventional undergarment, such as a panty or brief, is comprised of a number of fabric panels sewn together to form an undergarment having two leg openings and a waist opening. The undergarment is worn by slipping each of the legs of the wearer through the waist opening and through a respective leg opening. The undergarment is then pulled up the legs and disposed so as to cover the waist, hips, buttocks and thighs of the wearer. Traditionally, elastic material may be sewn to the undergarment at the circumference of the waist opening and/or leg openings to provide a snug, flexible fit of the garment on the body of the wearer.
Generally, the elastic material consists of a light, thin elastic band sewn to the undergarment at the circumference of the waist opening and/or leg openings, and is very easily stretched to conform to the body of the wearer and to allow for comfort and ease of movement. The elastic material provides very little support, and is usually ineffective for shaping and firming the body of the wearer. Also, the material used for the fabric panels is usually relatively light weight and non-supportive of the body of the wearer.
Body-shaping undergarments have been designed to satisfy the desire of a wearer to present a firm and shapely figure. A conventional body-shaping undergarment is exemplified by a corset. A corset is a shaped, close-fitting, usually reinforced undergarment worn to shape and support the body of the wearer. A conventional body-shaping undergarment typically utilizes stiff and overly-constraining reinforcing components and straps, making the garment clumsy, uncomfortable and severely restrictive of the movement of the wearer.
FIGS. 6 and 7 show a prior attempt at providing a body-shaping undergarment that is comfortable to wear and not overly restrictive. This body-shaping undergarment comprises a plurality of fabric panels sewn together to define waist opening 1 and leg openings 2. The circumference of the waist opening 1 is bordered by an elastic waist band 3, which is designed to support and firm the midsection of the wearer. The circumference of each leg opening 2 is bordered by a thin elastic leg band 4 for drawing the leg openings 2 of the garment close around the thighs of the wearer. A pair of straps 5 are fixed to the front and back of each leg opening 2, and each strap 5 terminates in a fitting for attachment to hosiery worn by the wearer. As shown in FIG. 7, a pair of buttock support panels 6 are disposed at the back-side of the undergarment. Each buttock support panel 6 supports and shapes a respective buttocks of the wearer, and a large gap 7 is present between the buttock support panels 6 with no fabric panel existing to cover the buttock of the wearer.
The undergarment shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 suffers from a number of drawbacks that makes it less than effective to adequately shape and firm the body of the wearer. For example, the thin elastic leg bands 4 provide very little support to the thighs of the wearer. Also, the large gap 7 between the buttock support panels 6 reduces the comfort of the wearer, requiring the use of an additional undergarment, such as a panty, to adequately cover the buttocks of the wearer. Also, due to the large gap 7, and the inability of the thin elastic leg bands 4 to adequately support the thighs of the user, the undergarment lacks the co-action between the leg bands 4, buttock support panels 6 and waist band 3 that is necessary to effectively shape and support the mid-section of the wearer.
There have been a variety of attempts to provide a body-shaping undergarment capable of shaping and supporting the body of the wearer. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,393, issued to Brady, discloses a form fitting undergarment to be worn by pregnant women or women with large abdomens. To accommodate a large abdomen, this reference teaches the use of a front panel made of a stretchable material that is more stretchable than to other fabric panels making up the undergarment. This prior attempt fails to adequately constrain and support the mid-section of the wearer, and is thus ineffective at providing a firmer, more shapely figure. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 4,390,999, issued to Lawson et al., discloses a panty hose type garment having a body bulge controlling portion. The body bulge controlling portion is provided so that a compressive force exerted by the garment against the body is varied in a stepped manner. This prior attempt does also fails to adequately constrain and support the waist and mid-section of the wearer, and thus fails to provide a body-shaping undergarment that is comfortable to wear and effective at firming and shaping the mid-section of the wearer.